The Extended Mind | Annie Murphy Paul

Why it is included: Our culture treats the brain like a computer—a processor sealed inside the skull.

Annie Murphy Paul aggregates decades of research to prove this is a "neurocentric" fallacy.

She demonstrates that humans are "looping" creatures: we think with our bodies (gestures/movement), with our surroundings (nature/architecture), and with our relationships (social synchrony).

We include this because it provides the "Cognitive Architecture" for the transition.

It argues that to solve complex problems, we cannot just "use our brains" harder.

We must "offload" cognition into the world. It validates the need for regenerative architecture, walking in nature, and collaborative workspaces not as luxuries, but as essential hardware for human intelligence.

It is the manual for thinking outside the brain.